The Hobbit Close Reading Worksheets Bundle with Answer Keys

Extend reading comprehension and support the development of close reading skills for high school with this set of analysis questions covering each chapter of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. With these resources, students will focus on significant details in order to develop a deeper understanding of the novel and its craft, thus helping them contribute more meaningfully during class discussions. Answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. (Alternatively, a Google Drive option is available.)

With these materials, students will have clearer purposes for reading such as the following:

• To analyze the effect of the author's language upon the reader

• To determine the tone of a passage

• To define unfamiliar and challenging vocabulary in context

• To explore how complex characters think, behave, develop, and interact

• To apply knowledge of literary devices such as symbolism, imagery, situational irony, dramatic irony, metaphor, simile, and more

• To isolate accurate statements from false statements

• To write about literature with clarity, accuracy, and precision

• To support claims with relevant textual evidence

• And more

Each resource may serve as the basis for small-group discussions. Through these discussions, students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development, demonstrating an ability to analyze how complex characters transform and advance the plot and themes by applying logic and citing compelling, meaningful textual evidence. They will also evaluate their peers' reasoning and use of rhetoric to advance claims, clarifying or challenging unclear ideas. Using this resource for structured guidance, students, ultimately, will present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly, concisely, and appropriately, thereby helping their peers comprehend their thinking.

In addition to helping students gain deeper understanding of the material and greater confidence in their ability to read and comprehend complex texts, this resource helps prepare students for ACT reading question types.

Similarly rigorous close reading exercises are available for a variety of novels:

• The Great Gatsby - Google and printable versions

• To Kill a Mockingbird - Google and printable versions

• The House on Mango Street - Google and printable versions

• The Hobbit - Google and printable versions 

• Catcher in the Rye - Google and printable versions

• The Adventures of Ulysses - Google and printable versions

• Frankenstein - Google and printable versions 

• Dracula - Google and printable versions 

• 1984 - Google and printable versions